


The Promise

by hafital



Series: The Lifetimes of Steve Rogers [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Background Relationships, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/M, Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23928370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hafital/pseuds/hafital
Summary: Steve sets off on the last leg of his journey, having made more than one promise along the way--promises to others, and promises to himself. And the most important promise...to come home.~*~“Any regrets?” she asked.There were always a few, the many things he could not change. He’d learned to live with the consequences of his actions. But she wasn’t asking about the big picture or those unalterable moments that were solidified in their past. She was asking about right here, right now. “No,” he said. “What about you?”She turned to admire the ocean. “How can I regret anything with a view like this?” she asked.
Relationships: Frigga | Freyja & Heimdall (Marvel), Frigga | Freyja & Loki (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Loki & Thor (Marvel), Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Steve Rogers & Thor, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Series: The Lifetimes of Steve Rogers [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1686673
Comments: 41
Kudos: 66





	1. The Space Bar

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fifth and final part of this series, posted along with an epilogue. Thank you to everyone who has read along so far! 
> 
> I can't believe it's been a year since Avengers: Endgame. I've basically been writing this series the entire time. Talk about a labor of love. :) And I'm thrilled to finally finish it and share it with anyone who is a fan of the MCU, and a fan of Steve Rogers. 
> 
> Except for the first part of the series and the epilogue, most of this series takes place entirely within the five seconds after Steve disappears from the platform. It is canon compliant, but since 95% of it takes place in alternate timelines, it is also canon divergent. :D
> 
> This story uses the Alternate Timeline theory of Avengers: Endgame.
> 
> Thank you to slb44 for the beta!
> 
> If you would like more information about characters and pairings before reading, please see the end notes.

It was morning in Norway, fresh and cool, the sun shining brightly. Steve appeared on a hillside, and he took a precious second to get his bearings. New Asgard looked sleepy in the distance. Then, he saw the _Benatar_ several feet away, perched on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. Valkyrie stood off to one side, gazing at it as Thor strode away from her. She held a thoughtful look, watching Thor leave.

This was cutting it close. Steve had known approximately when Thor left on the _Benatar_ , and also where the ship would be parked, but he hadn’t intended for there to be mere seconds before Thor’s departure.

Crouching behind a hill, staying out of view of the ship, Steve called to Valkyrie in a loud whisper. “Hey!” He whistled, to get her attention. 

She looked behind her, frowning when she recognized him. “Where did you come from?”

This was his timeline, but not quite his present. Right now, in New York, he had returned from Oregon with Bucky, and they were all in their bunks trying to get some sleep before his mission the next day. Fortunately, the time difference between Norway and New York worked in his favor. He had to be careful though, not wanting to create a branch reality.

He could have picked almost any time to grab Thor. After Tony’s funeral probably would have been easier, but he’d chosen to get him in this moment, right before he left with the Guardians.

“Get him,” he said to her, gesturing to Thor as he entered the ship. “Don’t let him leave yet. I need to talk to him.” She shook her head, brows furrowed in further confusion. He made a pleading face. “Please.”

With an expression that said she thought he was a mad man, Valkyrie strode over to the _Benatar_ , waving her arms. “Oy, Thor. A quick word,” she yelled, looking back at Steve, shrugging. He gestured for her to continue. She searched her pockets for her phone. “You have a call,” she said, with another doubtful look at Steve. “From that guy…” Steve rolled his eyes, mouthing his name. “Steve,” she said, uncertain.

Steve held his breath, worried Thor would ignore Valkyrie, and the ship would fly away and he’d have to think of something else. But he heard the hydraulics as the door opened, and then Thor tumbled out, gesticulating to Rocket to wait. 

“I’m not waiting!” yelled Rocket from the open ramp. “You get a minute and then we’re gone.”

Rushing to Valkyrie, Thor asked, “What is it?” 

“Uh…over here,” she said, leading Thor away from the ship, pointing to where Steve was hiding. “He wants to speak with you.”

Approaching the rise cautiously, Thor looked at Steve with delight and then bewilderment. He glanced back at Rocket, clearly torn because he didn’t want to miss his ride. “Captain?” he asked, uncertain and staying within view of the ship to keep an eye on Rocket. 

“Hi, Thor,” said Steve, taking him in—the long hair, the big bushy beard that Steve had actually missed, the tattered but comfy looking sweaters. This was his Thor. 

“What are you doing here?” asked Thor, pleased to see him but not coming any closer. “When I said we’d see each other again I didn’t realize it would be the next day. Although…” he took off his sunglasses, tilting his head as he inspected Steve. Thor’s shoulders dropped. “It’s the next day for me, but not for you. How long has it been for you, my friend?”

Steve blinked, though he didn’t know why he was surprised. Asgardians, he thought fondly. There was just no fooling them. “Decades,” he said, and the rush of emotion caused his chest to feel tight. Just that one word felt like a confession. 

Thor looked grave and a little sad. From over by the ship, Rocket called out. “Forty seconds, loser. I’m serious. I’m leaving!”

“I need you to trust me,” said Steve, anxiously. Thor wasn’t looking at him anymore as he waved at Rocket. “Will you come with me?” Steve held out his hand. 

“Where to?” asked Thor, hesitant.

“You’ll see. Please,” said Steve, then he played his one winning card. “I promised Loki.” The change that came over Thor was electric. Valkyrie watched from the side, silently observing. “I’ll have you back right away. It’ll be like you never left. You won’t miss your ride.”

But the seconds ticked past with Thor staring at him, undecided. “I can’t save him,” said Thor, with the acceptance of an old wound. “There’s no way to save him.”

“You don’t have to save him. Not this Loki,” said Steve. “He wants to see you.”

“It won’t be him.”

“Does that matter?” asked Steve. “He’s still Loki.”

Thor looked to Valkyrie for advice. She shrugged, but with a raised eyebrow that seemed to say, “Why not?” From the ship, Rocket yelled, “Ten seconds!”

A smile emerged through Thor’s bushy beard. “Man out of time,” he said, gazing at him. Steve blushed for some reason. Taking the last few steps, Thor put his hand in his in a tight grip. Quickly, Steve slipped one of the new devices onto Thor’s hand, syncing it with his. They’d leave from one platform, together.

Thor waved goodbye to Valkyrie, then called Stormbreaker. It came swooping out of the ship. Rocket yelled, “Hey, what the…okay bozo, five more seconds. Five, four, three…”

The suits closed around them. Just as they disappeared, Steve saw another Steve and Thor reappear next to Valkyrie, one second of overlap. He relaxed, and they were gone, sunk down into the swirling world of the quantum realm. 

From green hills bedecked with sunlight to a dark, cold, noisy space bar. None of the patrons seemed to care that people kept disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere, continuing with their merry debauchery as if nothing happened. 

Loki hadn’t moved in the five seconds Steve had been gone, sitting at the bar with his drink raised partway to his lips. But he froze when they appeared, staring at Thor in astonishment. 

“Ah. Space bar,” said Thor, appreciatively, looking around as his suit retracted. “Very nice.” Then he saw his brother. “Loki!” he cried, throwing his arms out. He handed Stormbreaker to Steve as he rushed forward and grabbed Loki by both arms. Loki barely managed to set his drink down. Thor beamed at him, touching his face and hair, petting him. “Look at you!” Thor squinted, like he was judging which breed of Loki this was. “If I am not mistaken,” he said, teasing. “I believe you’ve escaped again. Good for you.”

Loki stared at Thor like he was as alien as any of the patrons at the bar. 

“You’ve changed your look,” said Loki, trying to process Thor’s hair and face and his clothes. 

Something registered with Thor—not quite shame, not quite embarrassment. “I fear you find me much altered.”

Loki made a series of faces, struggling to find words. Had he never been tongue-tied before? He passed his hands wonderingly over Thor’s sweater-clad shoulders. But it was Thor’s eyes that stopped him and broke through that devil-may-care façade. He gently brushed strands of Thor’s hair aside to get a better look. “It becomes you,” he said, after several moments.

His words seemed to cause Thor pain, shattering his act of the cheerful bumbling giant. He shut his eyes, reaching for Loki until he rested against his brother. Tentatively, unsure of himself, Loki brought his arms around and held him. 

Loki looked up to meet Steve’s eyes. They didn’t say anything out loud but much passed between them until Thor pulled away. Thor’s eyes were wet, but he smiled, holding out his arms to encompass Steve and Loki together. “My two brothers,” he said through unshed tears.

Steve felt his cheeks grow warm, and Loki rolled his eyes, vaguely offended, but Thor just beamed. 

“Well,” said Loki, speaking into the awkward pause. “Are we ready to get to work?”

“To work?” asked Steve. He felt the first stirrings of alarm. 

“Don’t pretend innocence, my dear Steven,” said Loki. “I can tell just by looking at you how much mayhem you’ve caused in your travels.”

Steve took offense to this. “Uh…that’s not actually…”

“What do you have in mind?” asked Thor, and God help Steve, but Thor looked intrigued. 

“This reality has a Thanos, doesn’t it?” said Loki. It was impossible not to notice the effect those words had on Thor. “He has to be dealt with.” Loki turned to Steve. “That is what you were driving at before? Wasn’t it?” he asked. 

Steve pursed his lips, studying Loki, well aware of the multiple layers of manipulation that were happening, between him and Loki, between Loki and Thor.

“That is your point in all this? Isn’t it?” continued Loki, pressing him for an answer. “You claim I set all this in motion.” Loki waved one arm, indicating the bar, but encompassing the entire universe, and meaning the past, the present, and the future. He meant his role in Thanos’s plans for the Infinity Stones, and the way Thanos had used him. For a moment the blue glow of the Tesseract shone on Loki’s face. From the way Thor stirred beside him, Steve knew Thor had seen it as well. “It wasn’t all me. You overestimate my abilities if you think it’s all my fault. But I acknowledge my part,” said Loki, with a tone of acceptance. “So, help me fix it.”

Thor turned to Steve with a burning question in his eyes. Could they do it? Should they? This wasn’t their reality. But Steve had meddled with other realities. He’d altered events, always with the goal of saving lives that would otherwise be lost. It would be hypocritical to deny it. That was Loki’s point. 

And didn’t he have a case of time travel devices? He’d asked Tony for six devices total. Hadn’t some part of him known this was exactly what would happen? Hadn’t he wanted this?

“Listen,” said Steve, and he spoke mostly to Thor. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know just how spectacularly it can all backfire. Messing with time is dangerous,” he said. “If we’re going to do this, we need more than just the three of us. Especially if we’re going to have any hope of controlling Loki.”

“I beg your pardon,” said Loki, with full offense. “Well, that’s nice. Honestly. What’s the harm in a little mischief?” he asked, eloquently, like he had only suggested they retire to the parlor and start up a gentlemanly game of whist.

“I see what you mean,” Thor said to Steve, ignoring Loki. “Quite right. But, who do we ask? Should we go to the Avengers of this time?” 

“No, we can’t interfere with the Avengers here. This reality is already unstable, and they have their lives. Things are complex enough as it is for them. If we start changing events to that degree, this entire timeline will go up in flames.”

At the mention of flames, a spark lit up Loki from within. He leaned in, a little too eager, with madness in his eyes. “I ask again. What’s the harm in a little mischief?” 

Thor gazed at his brother with misty-eyed affection. 

Oh boy, thought Steve. He may have acted recklessly on occasion, but he had tried to be careful, attempting to maintain the integrity of each timeline he’d visited. Yet here he was. Only five minutes with Loki and they were ready to burn the place to the ground.

“I have an idea,” he said, hoping to rein back the conversation. 

When he told them what he had in mind, both brothers looked at him with a mixture of fear, excitement, shame, and hope. But they ultimately agreed, and soon the three of them each had a time travel device around their palms, shrinking down into the quantum realm.


	2. The Lookout's Roost

Steve appeared underground in the middle of the unstable rubble that shifted beneath him. He had to crouch low. The smell brought him right back as though he’d never left—the stink of ozone and damp earth and the sizzle of energy weapons. It had been decades since he had been here, in these seconds after Thanos’s ship fired the missiles that destroyed the compound. But this wasn’t his past. It was an alternate reality. He confirmed this when he saw Natasha pinned down by a slab of concrete, struggling to get free.

Water rushed in. He went to help her but before he could she’d found a steel rod and got some leverage, with just enough strength to wiggle out, panting as she crawled away on her hands and knees, wet and muddy, coughing. He said her name, bending to offer his hand. “Easy,” he said, steadying her. “Scott and Rhodey will be here soon.”

She startled when she saw him, then spent a second catching her breath, grateful as he helped her stand. But the water level rose rapidly, already reaching their knees. Natasha looked around at what used to be the compound, taking in her situation, listening to comms. “Are you…” she started, then fell silent. He was certain she had been about to ask if he was all right, but then she noticed his clothes, the changes to his hair and face, the fact that he bore no sign of having gone through the collapse of the compound. “Steve?” she asked. 

“I am Steve,” he said, trying to smile. 

They were calling for her over comms, but she kept frowning at him. “You’re not though. You’re him. You’re the other one. The sled. The Stone. You’re the one who came back. You came back again?”

She couldn’t have known how her words would affect him. “Yeah,” he said as if he had dust stuck in his throat, rubbing at a smudge on her cheek. “I came back.”

Natasha let go a small breath, not quite a sigh, her fingers gripping the fabric of his jacket. “You came back for the Soul Stone.”

“And to see you.” He brushed aside her dirty, wet hair. They called again over comms, desperate to find her. “You better answer.”

She tapped her comm unit, checking in. Scott and Rhodey were coming for her. They had Rocket but needed to locate Bruce. The water crept higher. She had a battle to fight.

“When it’s over, meet me on our hill and bring the Soul Stone. The sledding hill,” he said. “Or what’s left of it.”

She studied him, searching his face. He saw no difference between her and the Natasha who never made it back from Vormir, but she must see a world of difference between him and the Steve Rogers of this reality. “All right,” she said, squaring her shoulders with that same unbending strength. Before she turned away, she asked, “So you’re saying we win this fight?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. “You’d better.”

More noise and clamoring voices called for her. He stepped back, making himself invisible. Rhodey used his War Machine armor to cut through the rock and cement. “This way,” he said, when he reached her. “We have to find Bruce. The others need back up.”

Natasha looked behind her to where Steve was wrapped in shadow, but she followed close behind Rhodey. 

Alone again, he used Mjolnir to work his way through the rubble to the surface, then flew under cover of illusion to their hill, well out of reach of the coming battle. The hill had been partially destroyed, but most of it was still there. He wanted to watch but he wouldn’t interfere. Thanos’s dropships were landing, with hordes spilling out. The other Steve limped forward, holding his shield—as yet still unbroken in this reality. But he wasn’t alone this time. Thor and Tony were with him. They each struggled up to their feet, and flanked him on either side. 

Back alley brawl, he said to himself. It was absurd, but Steve felt proud of his counterpart, whom he remembered as that torn-up angry man he’d met at a gym. He was proud of all three of them, and was both certain and uncertain of what would happen next. Had this reality changed too much? Or had it changed just enough?

All three heroes paused, then the other Steve turned to his left. Even from this distance, Steve could see the first sparks appear, and then the portals opened across the sky. A moment later, Sam flew in a sweeping arc, a truly miraculous sight. That Steve got to see it twice in his life was outstanding. 

The armies gathered, like something straight out of one of Bucky’s fantasy novels. With a distant roar, a hundred-foot tall Ant-Man—or should he be called Giant-Man?—burst through the rubble, opening his palm and depositing the Hulk, Rhodey and Rocket, and Natasha. Mjolnir flew into Captain America’s hand, the Avengers assembled, and the armies clashed in battle.

When he’d gone through it the first time, the battle seemed to go on for days without end. But as he watched out of reach of the fighting, he knew it couldn’t be longer than a few hours from start to finish: the river rushing in, the desperate attempt to get the gauntlet away, the sudden arrival of Carol Danvers turning the tide. He kept his eye on Natasha, who hadn’t been there the first time, but the battle progressed much as it had before—until Tony fought Thanos and gained the Infinity Stones. His suit reformed, shifting with nanotech.

Steve’s heart pounded hard and loud. He held his breath, too afraid to even pray. He could only desperately hope. Tony snapped his fingers and the shockwave burst free, rushing across the devastated landscape. 

At first nothing, then the enemy began crumbling to dust one by one. Tony collapsed, smoke rising off his suit, and he cried out in pain, writhing on the ground. The cry was both difficult to hear and a relief—Tony had never made a sound the first time. With Tony’s second cry of agony, Steve nearly broke his cover, taking several steps forward as if he could run the distance and reach Tony first. But he remembered who he was and that he didn’t belong to this reality. Rhodey and Peter got to Tony, removing the gauntlet with the Stones. It fell to the floor. Then Pepper arrived. Steve could just barely hear them. They called for a doctor. Dr. Strange knelt beside Tony but he didn’t waste time. Strange opened a portal, and they took Tony straight to a hospital and were gone. 

In their concern for Tony, no one witnessed Thanos as he sat down, the last of the enemy to go, blown away in the wind. Everywhere else, people turned to each other in reunion, in hope and relief, and to assist the wounded. He saw the other Steve gather Sam and Bucky to him.

Steve felt almost dizzy with relief. Then he felt a rush of heartbreak. For his Tony, who had died, and no matter how many Tony Starks from alternate timelines survived, that was a fact he could never change. But he saw Natasha, and from across the battlefield their eyes met. She picked up the gauntlet and removed the Soul Stone. He sat down on a rock to wait for her.

As he waited, he watched everything he’d missed the first time. The wizards kept the portal to the hospital open, and doctors appeared to set up triage stations. More healers arrived from Wakanda. He saw Lucky out there, a yellow shadow barking after Barton, helping search for the wounded. Good dog. Eventually, he heard a slight noise and turned to see Natasha climbing up the hill. 

Without a word, she sat down next to him. Her skin was gray with dust and exhaustion. She hadn’t changed her clothes, and there were several rips and tears with blood showing here and there.

“How’s Tony?” he asked. 

She lifted one corner of her mouth. “He damaged his heart. They’re putting the arc reactor back in his chest to keep it going. And, he’ll lose his arm.” Her eyes were a vivid green, giving him a slight shrug. “I’m told he’ll live.”

He sighed, then he took her hand in his, threading their fingers together. It was more than he had dared to hope. “Thank you.”

She looked down at their joined hands, examining the ring on his finger. “This is new,” she said, curiously. She raised an eyebrow. “Peggy Carter?”

He squeezed her hand, wanting to speak but nothing came out. 

A little crease between her brows formed as she took in the changes seventy years had made. “You haven’t gone home yet have you?”

He knew she meant home to his present, to his reality. How long can five seconds last? “I had some things I had to do first,” he said, finding his voice. He smiled at her. She was so precious to him. 

It was just like her not to press for details, trusting that he’d tell her when he was ready, but she turned his wedding ring around and around on his finger. From a pocket, she took out the small ornate box he’d given her two and a half and seventy years ago, offering it to him on the flat of her palm. 

“Why’d you give this to me?”

“You know why.”

She turned the box around. The Stone rattled inside it. Then, she lifted the lid. The golden orange glow spread over her, then over him. “Do you know what it’s like carrying the Soul Stone around? I dreamt of it. I saw things. I felt _them_. Sometimes, I’d have to fight the urge to chuck this thing into the river.”

“Why didn’t you?” he asked, staring at her in wonder, golden light bathing her from head to toe.

She shrugged, then put the lid back on, and the light went away. “Because you gave it to me.” Natasha smiled as he ducked his head. “And because people died for it. Nebula told us what happened to her sister. And, in some other time, in some other universe, I died for it. That’s what happened, isn’t it? I can see it in your eyes. And I saw it in my dreams. I saw _her_ in my dreams.”

_See you in a minute._

He took a deep breath, closing her palm into a fist over the box, encasing her hands in his. “You didn’t die for it. That’s not true. You died for us. For all of us. For the entire universe. That’s the difference. That’s why it’s yours.”

She looked contemplative. They both held the Stone now, his hand and her hand, with the box in between. After a pause, she spoke again. “I volunteered to take the Stones back to where they belong,” she said. “As soon as Bruce builds a second platform.” 

“What?” he exclaimed. She was full of surprises. He hadn’t expected this at all. Instinctively he sought out the other Steve. This time, instead of returning to Brooklyn, he and Sam and Bucky were with Thor and the Asgardians. “Why’d you do that?”

“Because I wanted to,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of time to think in the past couple of years. It should be me. The only thing I can’t return is the hammer, but Thor wants Steve to keep it.”

Of course he did, thought Steve. He wondered if Natasha had ever tried to lift the hammer. 

“Bruce is working on convincing him it needs to go back.”

He smiled, but he could see she had not quite thrown off the yoke of loneliness—that was obvious to him, and he struggled to find the words to ask what he wanted to ask. If she was taking on the burden of returning the Stones, then she should be the one to lay the Soul Stone to rest. 

“Natasha—”

“Yes,” she said, interrupting him with a return of that lopsided teasing grin. 

“Yes what?” he asked. 

“You were about to ask if I’d go with you. To see her. The other me. To see where she rests. You have to return the Stone to that timeline, don’t you? That’s why you came back for it. Yes. I’ll go.” 

“How’d you know that’s what I was going to ask?” She gave him a look, tilting her head. “All right. Fair point. We can make sure you come back here, to this exact moment. It’ll be like you never left.”

“Okay,” she said, trusting, not particularly concerned. She returned the box with the Stone to her pocket. “Ready when you are.”

He grinned, and took out the last of the time travel devices Tony Stark made for him.

“These are upgraded,” he explained as he put it around her palm, showing her quickly how to program it. They synced their devices together. “Ready?” he asked.

She nodded. They both stood, holding hands as the suits closing over them, disappearing from the battle-torn hillside. In that split second before he shrunk down, he saw a flash of Natasha returning, one second of overlap. The swirling world of the quantum realm pushed them out several galaxies away, in a different time and reality. The Lookout’s Roost was just as beautiful as he remembered it. It was morning, and the flowers were in bloom. 

Nearby, in a coastal village, his younger self had just saluted his goodbye to Heimdall. 

At first Natasha looked curiously around the Lookout, but then she noticed the stasis unit as it lay under the stone roof. A crease developed between her brows, the only sign of her unease. “There’s no rush,” he said. “Also, I promised Thor he could be here.”

That distracted her, and she frowned in confusion. “Thor?”

“My Thor,” he clarified. “From my time. I told him he could be here when we say goodbye to her. It’s a…long story.”

She narrowed her eyes. “I bet it is. Well, sailor, I’d like to hear it. We got time.”

He chuckled. “I guess we do.”

They sat on what had once been a stone table and bench now covered in moss and vines and tiny star-shaped pink and yellow flowers. The morning light felt warm on their shoulders as bugs buzzed around their heads. She told him a little of what the past two and a half years had been like for her, and he told her about Peggy, and saving Bucky and Rogers, and living through those decades. He ended with Thor and Loki, and their adventures since leaving the space bar. “I needed Tony to make these,” he said, raising his fist with the device. “I just took the long way to get to him.”

She held him in her gaze. With her preternatural ability to read him, he knew she could see everything. But it was never uncomfortable. He didn’t mind Natasha discovering all the parts of him. 

When she eventually looked away, she sighed, gazing across the magnificent view, then glancing to where the stasis unit lay. “Asgard really is beautiful,” she said. 

“Yeah. It’s a shame it gets destroyed,” he said. 

“Are we going to leave her here?” asked Natasha. 

“We could bring her home, if you prefer. Or she can lie here for the next few years. She’ll become stardust. The Stone too.”

She fell silent again, and the breeze blew the tendrils of her hair that had fallen out of her braid. “I used to have nothing,” she said, and his heart nearly stuttered to a stop. Natasha turned to him, her eyes catching the yellow from the flowers. “And now I have…” she frowned a little, looking down, taking the box with the Stone and removing the lid. More golden light poured out. “I have my life. I have this view. I have you. I have a future that can be anything I want. All because of her.”

His throat squeezed shut. Natasha was still staring at the Stone in her hand—a soul for a soul. 

“Ready?” he asked her. 

She nodded.

With a tap on his device, he sent a message through the quantum realm, like a GPS drop pin on a map. Less than a second later, several figures materialized—Thor first, and then Loki. But right behind Loki came two more. Their suits disappeared, revealing Heimdall and Frigga. 

Before Steve had a chance to do any sort of introduction, Thor threw his arms out wide. “Natasha!” he cried, bounding over and scooping Natasha up in his arms. 

Thor had changed a little since Steve had taken him to the space bar. Better groomed, and he’d returned to wearing actual clothing—not his Asgardian finery, but serviceable armor. 

“Hi,” she said, tolerant and amused, until she got a better look at his face. Thor was beaming, but his eyes shone wetly as he held her hand and petted it over and over again.

“Space magic,” he said, tenderly. Only Steve understood the reference, but that didn’t seem to matter to Natasha. She took a breath and tugged on his beard with affection.

Loki strode forward, though he kept well out of Natasha’s striking range. Wise choice, thought Steve. “Agent Romanoff,” he said, courteously, with a slight bow of his head. 

Natasha wrinkled her nose. “Huh,” she said. “You again.”

There was an awkward pause, then Thor rushed in to introduce Heimdall and Frigga. “This is Heimdall, hero of Asgard. And may I present my mother, Lady Frigga. They are from a timeline where the Captain sav—”

“I expect the Captain has filled her in,” interrupted Frigga, but with a kind smile for her son. “She knows who we are, and where we come from,” 

“Right,” said Thor, cheeks flushed, stepping back. 

Though Heimdall didn’t wear his Asgardian armor anymore, he was just as commanding as before, bowing slightly over Natasha’s hand. “It is pleasing to meet you, Natasha Romanoff.”

Steve watched Natasha try not to react to Heimdall, pretending she didn’t find him impressive.

Frigga stepped closer, and then the two redheads faced each other. Like the others, since leaving her reality, Frigga no longer wore her silken Asgardian clothes, choosing instead a sturdy leather breastplate and slim-fitting leather pants under a lined cloak, a sword at her side, and her long hair braided. “It is an honor to meet another of my son’s friends,” said Frigga. “And one I have so much in common with.”

They both turned to look at the stasis unit together. The dome of the unit glinted in the light. 

“You too, huh?”

“Indeed,” said Frigga. 

As if they’d been friends for years, Natasha reached for Frigga’s hand. “It’s weird,” she said. “It’s like I lost a limb. But it’s a limb I didn’t know was there until it was gone. And now I’m growing something else. Entirely different, but yet…not different.”

“Yes,” said Frigga, with feeling. “That is it exactly. A new branch within Yggdrasil.”

They fell silent, and without Steve’s prompting, they all moved toward the stasis unit together, encircling it on all sides. No one spoke. Eventually Steve accessed the control panel, and the dome over the unit slid open. 

For one wild second, Steve expected her to move, for her eyes to open. He expected she’d smile when she recognized him, and his heart thumped in expectation. But of course that did not happen. Natasha placed the small ornate box within the other Natasha’s hands, closing them one over the other. She bent near, whispering something no one else could hear. Then she let go. Steve closed the unit again. 

First Loki stepped away, then Heimdall and Thor and Frigga. Steve remained by Natasha’s side until she was ready. 

“We’ll leave her here,” she said. 

“Okay.”

They walked back to the others. Heimdall had set food out on the stone table. He alone out of all of them remembered food and drink and other necessities, gathering provisions when he could for when it might be needed later. Never not hungry, Steve eagerly took a sandwich, wondering from what reality or time period it had come from. Natasha sat beside Frigga, immediately falling into an intimate conversation with her. As he ate, Steve watched the two women, his heart glad to see them together. 

Nearby, Thor and Loki’s voices suddenly rose in volume. “Loki, you’re not thinking this through,” said Thor, obstinate. 

“It’s pointless to argue,” said Loki, pacing away in frustration. 

Steve sighed as Thor stalked after his brother. “They’re still arguing?” he asked Heimdall. It was the same fight over and over again.

Heimdall glanced at Thor and Loki. “Thor will not change his mind.”

“What are they fighting about?” asked Natasha. 

Frigga followed her sons’ movements. “Thor wants Loki to return to his reality. He thinks Loki should be in his own time. Loki prefers to stay with him.”

“You mean…” and Natasha frowned. “For always?” Frigga shrugged, then nodded. “And what about the rest of you?”

“We will all have to return to our own times eventually,” said Frigga. “But it matters less for us. We have lived our lives. Loki has an entire reality that belongs to him, and a future that is yet to be lived.”

Natasha appeared thoughtful, still frowning as she looked from Frigga to Heimdall, and then finally to Steve. Steve felt he’d gotten fairly good at reading Natasha’s thoughts, but he had no idea what she was thinking now. 

Her lips held a hint of a smile. “The Loki-verse?” she asked, teasing. 

Frigga seemed rather pleased at the prospect of a Loki-verse, and Steve realized truly where Loki inherited his mischief. They may not be mother and son by blood, but they certainly were by nature. 

Heimdall huffed. “May chaos reign supreme,” he said. 

“Careful, Heimdall,” said Loki, who had overheard. There really weren’t too many places on the Lookout for Loki to stalk off too. “When you put it that way, I’m half-convinced I should return. Remember, there’s a Heimdall there that will have to deal with me.”

Slowly, a smile emerged on Heimdall lips as he studied Loki. With a nod, he said, “Better than to deal without you.”

Loki, to everyone’s surprise, blushed. He turned abruptly to Thor, but he wouldn’t look at him. “I don’t want to leave you,” he said, as if each word had to be dragged out of him. 

Thor gripped Loki’s shoulder until Loki reluctantly raised his eyes. “The Thor of that reality needs you.” As Loki started to protest again, Thor continued, speaking over him. “More than I need you.” But he said it with so much feeling, with the fullness of the love he had never lost for his brother. He gripped Loki by the neck, holding him. “Please, Loki.”

Loki’s nostrils flared, but then he truly looked into Thor’s eyes. Something flickered behind his stubbornness. “All right,” he said, his voice rough. “I’ll return when you go back to your time.”

Thor smiled, though it was bittersweet. “Deal.”

The brothers hugged. Loki acted like it was torture for him but Steve knew by now that it was all an act. Frigga rose from the table, reaching for her sons, and they both went into her arms at the same time.

“So,” said Natasha, who had fallen silent during the family drama. She pointed at everyone. “What are you calling this group?” 

“The Asgardians of the Multi-verse,” said Thor, detaching from Frigga with a big grin. 

“I’m not Asgardian,” said Steve.

“Neither am I,” said Loki.

“Minor details,” said Thor, robustly. Then, he stepped closer to Natasha. “What say you, Natasha? Shall you join us?”

The fact that she didn’t reject the idea outright gave Steve hope. Natasha folded her arms across her chest. “I have a job to do. Promises to keep. I have to go back.”

“No problem,” said Thor, with a wave of his hand. “When your work is done, simply come back here. You have that device. Return in five seconds. We’ll wait.”

Thor sounded almost exactly like Loki had when Loki proposed the same thing to Steve. The brothers were really far more alike than either of them cared to admit. 

Natasha opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. She looked down at the device on her palm. “Five seconds,” she said, turning to Steve. 

He raised his eyebrows at her. She still bore the marks of battle—the dirt and dust, the torn uniform, the dried blood. She wore the exhaustion like armor, and unlike the rest of the Avengers of both their realities, she had been in that fight from day one—all five years. Even longer if he counted the years they spent on the run. He knew how that changed her.

That little crease between her brows returned. “If I don’t come back here. In five seconds. Will I ever see you again?”

He knew she didn’t want to hear that she had a Steve Rogers who loved her no less than he did at home. That wasn’t what she was asking. Her green eyes met his when he took her hand again. “You asked me before why I gave you that Stone. I gave it to you so you could live your life. With them,” he said, and his throat closed up, but he continued anyway. “Or with me. Or however you prefer.” He tucked one of her escaped tendrils, more red than blonde, behind her ear. “It’s your choice. As long as you live.”

Her eyes glistened, but she smiled crookedly. “If it were down to me to save your life, would you trust me to do it?” she asked, lightly trailing a finger down his cheek and along his chin. 

He had to blink back tears. “I would now.”

They fell silent, neither of them ready to be the first one to move. Steve had no idea what Natasha had decided—whether to come back in five seconds after she completed her mission, or whether to stay with her own reality and continue her life there, as she was meant to. He wasn’t sure she knew yet herself. 

Heimdall began collecting the remainder of their food, packing it away. Frigga went over to the stasis unit, casting a complicated illusion. It would ensure that no one, not even the Loki of this time, could ever find her body or find the Stone. When they finished, they all stood in a circle. It was time to leave.

“Five seconds,” Thor said to Natasha. 

Natasha neither replied yes or no, but she squeezed Steve’s hand and gave him a small smile. She paused before she let go, almost as if to speak. _See you in a minute._

Stepping a few feet away, she raised her fist to access the device, rechecking her destination. The suit closed around her, the platform forming underneath. Their eyes met for a split second before she disappeared. 

Steve had never been on this side of the countdown before. Every other time, it had been him leaving, and someone else waiting. Now it was his turn. How many days would she pack into those five seconds? How many months or years? In his head, he counted down in time with his heart beating—five, four, three, two…

He held his breath. But, nothing happened. With a sinking heart, he bowed his head but refused to feel sad. She was meant to live her life, and it seemed selfish to want her with him. 

Then, he heard the electric swoosh of the quantum tunnel opening. A suited person appeared out of nowhere, their face obscured by the helmet. The suit disappeared, and Natasha Romanoff stood in the center of their circle, blinking from the bright daylight. 

Her hair was longer, the only indication of how much time had passed. She hadn’t cut off the blonde parts yet. That was the first thing he noticed as the blood rushed in his ears, temporarily muffling Thor’s happy cheer, and Loki’s, “Well done.” She wore one of her leather jackets over dark clothing, the kind of outfit she’d choose to wear if she wanted to blend into a crowd. He noticed all these details, quickly tallying them up one by one, to be studied later. 

When she saw him, she broke out in a smile. “Hey,” she said.

“Hi.”

She went into his arms, and he lifted her off the ground. That was the longest damned minute, he thought, as she rested her cheek against his.


	3. Central Park, New York City

Steve looked up from his magazine, watching Tony and Pepper manage their hyperactive four-year-old kid. Morgan ran circles around her parents, jumping on leaves and over puddles, doing somersaults on the grass. The two adults wore running gear, but they weren’t getting much exercise. 

It was a beautiful day in New York City. In late spring, the light filtering in through the elm trees in Central Park created dappled patterns, and the trees shivered in the light breeze. Sitting on a bench, Steve enjoyed a hot dog and a soda as people walked, ran and skated by. He finished the Time magazine article on the Avengers and set it down on the seat next to him. 

On this day, in an alternate New York, Thanos’s ship, the Sanctuary II, emerged from the quantum realm and destroyed the Avengers compound. That event wouldn’t happen in this reality. The Battle of Earth didn’t happen. The Time Heist didn’t happen. Instead, when Thanos came to Earth five years before, the Secret Avengers had stopped him.

The Time magazine article was mostly fluff, mixed with the occasional jarring truth. It ended with a “Where Are They Now?” exposé on the six original Avengers, reporting that the Hulk enjoyed a good soak in a hot tub, Hawkeye owned a dog he named Pizza Dog, and Black Widow had stepped in as the new director of SHIELD. Thor was busy with New Asgard, though he made splashy appearances in New York City now and again. Captain Steve Rogers married Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes in a private ceremony, though a few pictures had leaked to the press. And Tony…oddly, for a man who had lived his life in the public eye, not much was said about Tony in the article. He had retreated from the spotlight since the day he snapped his fingers and eliminated Thanos and his army as a threat. 

Steve watched Tony and Pepper bicker fondly with each other while their daughter played. Morgan spun round and round to make herself dizzy. She toppled closer to where Steve sat until she almost knocked into him. He caught her by the arms before she fell to the ground. “Whoopsie,” he said. 

Pepper was on a cell phone call, but Tony noticed his errant daughter. “Morguna,” he called in a singsong voice, coming over to pick her up. “Are you bothering the nice man?”

“Noooo,” said Morgan, but she smiled shyly at Steve before tucking her head into her father’s shoulder as he picked her up. 

“It’s okay,” said Steve, with an answering smile. “No bother.”

He got a good look at father and daughter. Up close, he could see the scarring that ran up along Tony’s neck on his right side. His right hand was also scared, but still his own. The nanotech arc reactor glowed on his chest. 

Tony apologized to Steve. Steve was in disguise and looked like an old man in his late seventies, no one Tony would recognize. But as their eyes met, they both stopped. It was a charged moment. Steve had to stop himself from reaching out to Tony, to show him who he really was. His heart did jumping jacks in his chest.

Someone called out Tony’s name and the moment ended. Tony and Morgan turned to greet Bruce Banner as he walked up to greet them, waving to Morgan who waved back. Bruce looked charmingly disheveled, like he’d just wandered out of his lab after a weeklong science bender. Morgan wiggled out of her father’s arms to run up to Bruce, who caught her, gave her a kiss, and then swung her up to his shoulders. 

“Do I get a kiss?” asked Tony, arms held out expectantly. 

“Do you deserve one?” quipped Bruce in return. This Bruce had not gone through the integration procedure. First, he gave Pepper a peck on the cheek—she was still on the phone but she grinned at Bruce—then he did the same to Tony, who looked pleased. 

Two more joggers passed by, and with a rush of adrenaline Steve recognized they were Rogers and Bucky, calling out greetings as they met with Tony and Bruce. Steve didn’t pretend not to stare, but no one in the group paid any attention to the old man sitting on a bench several feet away. 

Rogers was clean-shaven and managed to look like he was in uniform even though he wasn’t. But he smiled when he greeted Tony, giving him the same kind of older brother hug he used to when Tony was a teenager. Bucky looked healthy and happy, immediately gravitating to Morgan. 

Steve was so caught up in watching Bucky interact with Morgan, he didn’t notice when Clint and Laura Barton appeared, having arrived from the south. Laura carried a picnic basket. Rhodey was with them, as well as three teenagers and their yellow dog. With a jolt, Steve realized they were Barton’s kids. Having never gone through the Snap, they had aged regularly. 

While he was preoccupied with watching, a little old lady came over to sit beside Steve on the bench. She waved her hand in front of Steve’s face to get his attention. “You in there?” she teased in a creaky voice. 

Steve tried not to laugh when he looked at her. Natasha was in disguise—beady little eyes, a kerchief over white hair, wearing grandma stockings, and a flowery coat. Seeing her familiar teasing expression shining through on an unfamiliar face made him grin broadly. He tweaked her nose, then he handed her his extra hot dog and a second can of soda, which she eagerly took. “What did you find out?” he asked. 

Natasha sipped her soda after taking a big bite, her eyes following Barton and his three kids. From her handbag, she handed him an official Avengers and SHIELD report on the events that occurred five years before when Thanos came in search of the Stones. He looked over it quickly but decided to read it more thoroughly later, tucking it into a pocket. He knew more or less what happened anyway: Thanos had come for the Stones, just like he had in Steve’s reality, but this time the Secret Avengers had been prepared. They had prevailed. Thanos and his army had been turned to dust.

“And the Stones? Where are they?”

“Tony dropped them into the quantum realm,” she said around a mouthful of hot dog. At his surprise, she shrugged. “Pretty clean solution, don’t you think? Keeps them off Earth. Removes the threat of anyone using the Stones again, and doesn’t require someone killing themselves trying to destroy them.”

“Yeah,” said Steve with wonder as he turned back to watch the impromptu Avengers picnic. 

After finding a nice patch of grass, Laura laid out a blanket and then began unpacking the food. Her youngest, Nate, was helping her when Happy Hogan drove up in an electric golf cart with Natasha Romanoff in the passenger seat. 

Mentally, Steve switched over to calling the other Natasha by her surname. Romanoff got out of the cart, said hi to Laura and the kids, before seeking out Rogers and asking if she could have a word. They stepped away from the group for privacy. Clearly Romanoff had something serious on her mind she needed to discuss. 

Steve and Natasha grinned at each other to see their counterparts together. 

There was a pause, and then Natasha said, “None of ours died for it, you know.” 

The tone of her voice made Steve turn to her, and he thought he saw a golden light filling her eyes. She meant the Soul Stone. No one on their team had died for it.

“Then who did?” He wished they weren’t in disguise so he could see her face. Someone must have died for it.

She developed a small crease between her brows. “Do you remember that couple we fought in Scotland? When we went to find Wanda and Vision?” Right at that moment, Wanda and Vision strolled over to the group, walking hand-in-hand. Vision looked…different, without the Mind Stone. 

“Yes,” he said, recalling that long-ago day when they had left their safe house in Albany to find Vision. “What were their names again?”

“Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive. They were married,” she said. 

Steve felt vaguely ill. “He made them choose?” 

She nodded. “It’s in the report. You can read it for yourself. When Thanos learned what it would take to retrieve the Soul Stone, he brought them to Vormir. Corvus jumped, so Proxima lived.”

A wave of pity washed over him, even for these long-dead villains who had seemed as fanatical as Thanos. He didn’t forget that, in his reality, it was he and Natasha and the other Avengers who had killed the remaining members of the Black Order on the battlefield in Wakanda, and then Tony had eliminated them again five years later when he snapped his fingers. But still, he wondered what that must have been like for Proxima and Corvus on Vormir, choosing which one of them would die for their master. Had it been an honor? Or their only option? Or some horrible mixture of both? 

“But the best part,” said Natasha, turning to Steve. “In this timeline, during the battle, Gamora managed to reach Proxima. She got her to turn to our side. If Corvus hadn’t died for her, she never would have betrayed Thanos. Her betrayal probably won us the battle. She joined the Guardians’ crew afterward.” 

“You don’t say,” said Steve with wonder. He remembered the Ancient One’s final words to him— _If there is one path out of fourteen million that guarantees survival for all, do you not think they will find it?_

So much hanging on individual choices. That damned Soul Stone, he thought. It had its own motives. 

They returned to watching their friends. Someone was keeping the paparazzi and the more aggressive fans at bay, and for the most part the Avengers were able to have their picnic in peace. Steve assumed that was Happy’s doing, having his security team patrol from a distance. 

A sudden whooshing sound came from above, and Steve looked up in time to see both Sam and Thor fly in. Sam made a graceful landing but Thor came down with a mighty thud, causing everyone but the other five original Avengers to jump in surprise. 

“Friends!” cried Thor cheerfully, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, his hair still cut short. He set Stormbreaker down and made himself at home on the picnic blanket. 

Sam looked handsome in his Captain America uniform, towering over everyone as they sat down for the picnic. “Hope you’re all having a good time,” he said with a hint of sarcasm, his voice carrying over to where Steve and Natasha sat. “Some of us have to work.” His goggles hid his eyes, but his mock glare was evident anyway. He broke out in a big grin when everyone begged him to stay. 

Laura offered Sam a sandwich. He took it but went to join Rogers and Romanoff, still deep in discussion apart from the others. 

Again, Steve and Natasha grinned at each other, to see the three of them together. It had been Sam and Steve and Nat for so many years. It was bittersweet but also a blessing to see these different versions of themselves doing the same thing. 

It seemed Sam had only stopped by for a short visit. He ate his sandwich quickly, then with a handshake and a hug to Rogers and Romanoff, and another handshake to Bucky, he took off at a run, taking flight into the air.

Happy, still in his golf cart, asked if anyone wanted ice cream. The teenagers all said yes. Lila wanted Laura to come too, and then Bucky and Morgan decided to join them. They all piled into Happy’s golf cart. Last second, Morgan called for Pepper. Bucky got out of the cart to give his spot to Pepper, then heroically said he’d jog alongside it when Morgan still wanted him to come too. 

Show off, thought Steve, feeling so many emotions he couldn’t name them all. They all took off together, Bucky keeping pace. Pizza Dog barked. He jumped up from his spot by Barton and chased after Bucky.

After that the picnic was much diminished. They lost two more when Wanda and Vision continued their stroll. All that remained were the six original Avengers. Rogers and Romanoff finished their private conversation and went to join the others. They settled in together on the blanket, Romanoff with Barton, and Rogers nudging Thor over to make space. 

As Steve and Natasha watched from their bench, four old friends strolled over to them. Thor, Heimdall, and Frigga were all disguised in a similar fashion to Steve and Natasha—elderly men and women in non-descript clothing, easily forgotten—but Loki, though appearing like an old man, had on a dapper suit and wore a cravat.

Steve glanced at the little old lady he knew was Frigga, and then at the man he new was Thor. “How goes?” he asked. 

“My people are well,” said Thor. He was still tall in his disguise, but with white bushy hair instead. “They have settled in Norway, as they did in our time.” He glanced over to where the other Thor was gesticulating wildly, telling Rogers and Barton some crazy story. 

Steve nodded, looking keenly at Thor, Frigga, and Heimdall—in this reality, most if not all of their people had survived. He turned to the dapper man adjusting his pocket-handkerchief. “And Loki?”

Loki sniffed. “Causing mischief elsewhere, thank you very much,” he said, with feeling. “You may rest easy. He is not on Earth.”

Steve grinned. He turned back to Thor. “Do you think he’ll follow his brother?” he asked, with a nod toward Thor’s counterpart taking part in the picnic. 

“Perhaps,” said Thor, with a far-seeing, contemplative expression. “I suspect Loki will do something to call his brother’s attention.” Beside him, the little dapper man who was Loki sniffed again but did not deny it. “If he chases after Loki, I have no doubt he will return home again. Home is where his people are.”

They fell silent, each lost in thought. 

“This reality is in good hands,” said Heimdall. “There’s nothing for us to do here.”

“We should leave them to it,” said Frigga.

“I suppose so,” said Natasha, a little wistfully. 

The breeze blew, rustling up loose leaves, curving around the tree trunks. “Yes,” said Steve. “It’s time to go.”

With a final look at the Avengers sitting together in the pleasant sunshine, Steve offered Natasha his arm as they stood from the bench. The Asgardians and Loki went on ahead and Steve and Natasha followed, strolling arm-in-arm, 

As they walked away, they didn’t notice Tony rise from the picnic blanket to stand in the middle of the promenade. Rogers joined him. They both glanced down at a device in Tony’s hand that detected quantum travel. 

“Everything all right?” asked Rogers. 

Tony seemed to debate his answer as he watched the older couple leave, his eyebrows drawn together with curiosity and amusement. “I’d say so.”

They grinned at each other. Rogers put his arm around Tony’s shoulders, careful with his right side. Together, they rejoined their friends on the blanket.


	4. New Asgard, Again

Steve and Thor appeared on the hillside just as the other Steve and Thor disappeared. The ocean breeze was fresh, and the sky an unending blue. 

Over by the cliff’s edge where the _Benatar_ stood, Rocket continued counting down. “….three, two, one!”

Valkyrie grinned when she saw them. But when three more appeared out of nowhere right behind Thor and Steve, her expression went from mild amusement to wide-eyed alarm. “Please don’t tell me you multiplied,” she said. 

“That’s it! We’re leaving!” continued Rocket. Rocket marched determinately back to the ship.

The suits disappeared, revealing Heimdall, Frigga, and Natasha. Valkyrie’s wide-eyed look of alarm shifted into high gear. She turned to Steve, her expression clearly demanding an explanation. 

“I brought you a couple more Asgardians,” he offered, with a wincing kind of encouraging smile. 

“Um…” said Thor, raising a hand as if he had a lot to stay, but then he shook his head. “One second.” He rushed off, chasing after Rocket. “Rocket!” he yelled. “Don’t leave. I’m right here.”

“Well hurry it up already,” stomped Rocket, jumping up and down in frustration. 

“Just thirty more seconds,” begged Thor, going down on his knees on the grass, face-to-face with Rocket. 

Rocket squinted at him, wrinkled his nose. “Did you do something to your hair? You look different. Did you change your clothes or something?”

“One more minute,” pleaded Thor. 

“Oh, all right,” sighed Rocket.

Meanwhile, Steve was trying to do introductions. It had actually been quite tricky, bringing Heimdall and Frigga to his and Thor’s reality without causing a divergent timeline, but with the devices Tony created it appeared it was possible to do it, so they had. 

“This is Heimdall,” he said, with a gesture to Heimdall, then turning to Frigga. “And this is—”

“I know who you both are,” said Valkyrie with a quick jerk of her head that told Steve to shut up. He shut up. Valkyrie looked unnerved as she faced Frigga. 

Thor ran back but with one look at both Valkyrie and his mother and he knew to keep silent. Steve held his breath, wondering what would happen between two such powerful women. Beside him, Natasha watched intently, appearing calm on the outside but Steve knew that meant she was prepared to spring into action. Valkyrie flicked her eyes over to Natasha, narrowing them slightly as she looked her up and down, then switched back to Frigga.

“What are you doing here?” She paused, a crease between her eyes. Her jaw tightened. “Your majesty,” she added.

“I remember you. And your sisters,” said Frigga, every inch the queen. “Flying here and there across Asgard. I was a young girl then.”

“And I remember you,” said Valkyrie. “In those years before your marriage.”

Frigga paused as a small smile emerged, followed by a complex, unreadable expression. She studied Valkyrie, and those eyes of hers saw far more than what was on the surface. “My son tells me he’s made you King,” she said.

Valkyrie straightened, and there was just a hint of defiance in her stance, her chin lifting. “He has.”

Swiftly, and perfectly timed between them, both Frigga and Heimdall knelt before Valkyrie. Heimdall held out his sword, and then Frigga did the same thing. She lifted her gaze to Valkyrie. “We’ve come to help build New Asgard. If you will have us.”

There was a long, strained silence. Steve worried Rocket was going to start yelling again. Valkyrie seemed to weigh her options. After a beat, she held out her hands, one for Heimdall and one for Frigga. 

“Why not?” she said with a reluctant grin. “Could definitely use you. Especially if we’re losing this one,” she said, squinting at Thor. 

Thor sighed in relief. As the tension eased, Steve and Natasha looked at each other, both shrugging at the same time. “Asgardians,” he said privately to her. “What are you going to do?” That made her laugh. 

“Your minute’s up, sunshine,” yelled Rocket. 

Thor looked back over his shoulder to the ship on the edge of the cliff, then he faced his mother. “Goodbye, for now,” he said. 

They had all gone with Loki back to the space bar and had one last drink together. It was not an easy parting for the brothers. After, Thor became restless, eager to continue with his original plan to leave with Rocket and his crew. No one tried to persuade him otherwise, and it was time their wanderings came to an end. For now.

“Be well, my son,” she said, and smiled as she lightly brushed his hair aside, pulling him toward her so they could embrace. “We shall see each other again soon.”

Thor bowed his head to Heimdall, who did the same in answer before they clapped each other hard on the back. Thor hugged Natasha, and then finally he turned to Steve. 

It wasn’t a permanent goodbye. It wouldn’t even be a long one. They already had plans to see each other again. But it was a parting just the same, and Steve didn’t know the future anymore. “Don’t forget to write,” he said as he was engulfed in Thor’s big hug. “You promised.”

Thor grinned before striding away up the hill and joining the angry alien raccoon who swore at him but still made him laugh. “He’ll be okay,” said Natasha. 

Steve watched as the _Benatar_ lifted into the air, swiveled, then took off. “Yeah.”

Valkyrie then stood in front of Natasha. “And what about you?” she asked. “You’re welcome in New Asgard as well.”

Natasha’s mouth fell open in surprise. Only Valkyrie could get that kind of reaction out of her. But she recovered quickly. “I just might,” she said, with a flirty grin. “But I gotta say hi to some friends first.”

“All right,” said Valkyrie. She looked at Steve, one eyebrow raised in consideration. He had an urge to go down on his knees like Frigga and Heimdall. Her lips twitched in an almost smile, pointing her finger at him. “There is something odd about you.”

He shrugged. “So everyone keeps saying. But I’m just an old man from Brooklyn,” he said. 

She rolled her eyes. “I doubt that,” she said, then gave him another quizzical look. Heimdall and Frigga said their goodbyes, knowing they would see each other again soon. As he and Natasha stood and watched the three Asgardians return down the hill to New Asgard, she slipped her hand into his. 

This was it. The countdown was nearing the end. As soon as he left this place, his journey would be over. 

“Is it time?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said. 

She gave him a coquettish grin. Natasha was as pretty as a picture, framed by the green Norwegian hills. “Any regrets?” she asked. 

There were always a few, the many things he could not change. He’d learned to live with the consequences of his actions. But she wasn’t asking about the big picture or those unalterable moments that were solidified in their past. She was asking about right here, right now. “No,” he said. “What about you?”

She turned to admire the ocean. “How can I regret anything with a view like this?” she asked. 

They smiled at each other. After another few moments spent breathing in the ocean air, he raised his fist, tapping on the device. He met her eyes as their suits closed over them.


	5. Five Seconds Later...

Steve was back on the bench. It felt good to be the familiar old man again, even if it was only an illusion. From across realities, he could almost hear Tony Stark teasing him—Steve had been an old man even when he was young.

The river flowed, unhurried in its consistency, and the trees swayed with the wind. The noise from the clean up of the battle site reached them. Everything was just as he had left it. He’d only been gone five seconds. 

He watched Sam struggle to accept the shield, looking at it on his arm like the damn thing might start ricocheting off things on its own. If a man of Sam’s skin color could look green around the gills, then Sam was doing a bang-up job.

Steve stood up to properly face him, one Captain America to another. “You going to learn how to throw that thing properly?” he teased. 

Sam laughed quietly, then shook his head, humble and uncertain and alive. It was so good to see him—his Sam. This was the man who doggedly stuck by him through so many difficult years. 

“Man, you better give me some pointers.”

Steve chuckled, patting him on the shoulder and giving it a good squeeze. “I happen to know for a fact that you’re great at this.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed, seeing more than Steve was ready to show. “How do you know?”

“I just do.”

Sam glanced over his shoulder at Bucky. “Do you believe this guy?” he said. 

Steve hadn’t let himself look at Bucky yet, but he did so now and everything he wanted to say, the stories he wanted to tell Bucky, the things he wanted to share, pulsed at the back of his throat. 

Bucky, as solemn-eyed as ever, shook his head but with a hint of a smile. “I guess I do believe,” he said. 

Bruce walked over from the platform. For an eight-foot-tall, green-skinned scientist, he looked adequately flustered. “Steve, my God, what happened? What did you do?” He stopped, got even taller, and adjusted his glasses as he peered more closely at Steve. “How’d you do it? The time-stamp? I couldn’t pull you back.”

“Relax. Bruce, it’s okay,” said Steve. “Look, I brought something else.” 

He gestured toward his left. She emerged through the trees where she had been waiting, her red hair vibrant in the morning light. “Hi, Bruce,” said Natasha with her usual teasing smile. “Hi, Sam.”

Stunned silence. Bruce turned even greener, if possible. Sam said, “Holy shit,” but he was showing that gap-toothed grin and his eyes glowed. He set down the shield and scooped her up in a hug. 

Bruce frowned, that science brain of his probably jumping to all sorts of conclusions. But when Natasha hesitantly turned to Bruce, his face showed a mixture of sorrow and relief. Steve had never seen the Hulk cry. Bruce took off his glasses and knelt down, covered his face with his big green hand until Natasha tugged on it, and he rested his head on her shoulder. It made for a funny, tender, heartbreaking picture. 

Steve stepped back, out of the way of the reunion. Bucky was giving him side-eye, like he wasn’t entirely sure Steve was his Steve. 

“Admit it,” said Steve. “You didn’t think I’d come back.”

Bucky lifted one shoulder, shaking his head. “Did you get it all done?” he asked, since no one was paying them any attention. 

Steve turned so he could see Bucky’s blue eyes against the backdrop of the river and the sky. Bucky looked his fill as well, Brooklyn boys reunited. He raked his eyes up and down, taking in the details of Steve Rogers as an old man. With a healthy sense of mischief that Steve blamed entirely on spending so much time with Loki, he released the illusion to look like his true self, just for a second, sparks traveling over his body. Bucky’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Then he flushed pink all over. “What the hell?”

“I’ll tell you all about it,” said Steve, but his throat closed. Everything welled up inside him with jumbled emotion. “God I missed you.”

“Yeah,” said Bucky, like he was irritated at him, both happy and mulish at the same time. “Well you were only gone five seconds. I didn’t get a chance to miss you.”

Steve smiled. It was his turn to stare, matching each detail of Bucky to his memory of him. “I’ve got something for you, too.”

From his pocket he took out his notebook, turning the pages until he found the picture of all four Captain Americas together, handing it to Bucky. In it, Rogers had his arm around the other Bucky, their intimacy and closeness visible in the photograph. 

Bucky’s breathing deepened as he stared at the picture. Steve hoped he hadn’t misjudged too badly in showing it to him. “They look happy,” said Bucky after staring at it for a solid minute. His voice was tight. 

“They are.”

Bucky nodded, still not looking up. “Can I keep it?”

“It’s all yours,” he said. 

Carefully, Bucky unzipped his jacket, then tucked the picture into an inside pocket. And then he finally smiled, big and wide. His smile transformed his face entirely. “Hi, Steve,” he said. 

“Hi, Bucky,” said Steve. Realization hit him hard, and as the breeze blew in off the river they stepped into each other’s arms. Steve knew that he was home, finally.


	6. Epilogue

The Oregon sun shed rays of light through a prism of clouds. Steve finished his walk along the beach, then hiked up the path back to the house. He looked at his watch, having finally changed it to local time, and saw that it was almost ten in the morning. Sam and Bucky were due any minute. 

The sea-kissed breeze tugged playfully at his clothes, tangy and fresh. Busy bees, doubled in number, buzzed among the wild growth of the garden. Where the greenhouse used to be now sat an M-class spaceship similar to the _Benatar_ , taking up a good portion of the garden. He heard banging noises coming from the ship and the occasional yell, but that was normal so he ignored it. 

On the deck, he dusted the sand off, then entered the house to prepare a pitcher of lemonade and a few snacks, setting them out on the patio just as a car drove up to the house, parking behind the ancient Tahoe. The Tahoe had stopped working but Steve didn’t have the heart to get rid of it. Bucky, who knew the way of course, led Sam in through the side gate. 

“Look who it is. Captain America,” said Steve, smiling at Sam’s embarrassment. He stepped down from the deck to greet them properly, gazing at his two best friends. It had been months since he’d seen them last. And every time he did get to see them, he remembered how precious it was that he could. 

He greeted Sam first, offering his hand, but Sam grumbled at him. “I’m gonna need more than that,” he said, pulling Steve in for a hug. 

Steve relished the contact, treasuring every moment. Sam still looked at him like he was searching for the Steve he knew. That was his fault in choosing to return as an old man. He hadn’t quite found the courage yet to let go of the illusion.

He turned to Bucky, eyeing his shorter hair. Steve made Bucky turn his head back and forth. It wasn’t like Steve had never seen Bucky with short hair before, but it seemed a significant change for this Bucky, to say goodbye to the final traces of the Winter Soldier.

Self-consciously, Bucky raised a hand to rub at his head. “Felt like it was time.” 

Steve pulled Bucky toward him, his fingers scratching lightly through the shorter hair. “It looks good on you.”

It was Bucky’s turn to be embarrassed, shrugging away, but Steve patted his cheek.

They sat around the patio and Steve served lemonade. Sam and Bucky looked over to the garden and at the house, both curious but for different reasons. 

“So you bought a house in Oregon,” said Sam, with a mixture of wonder and confusion. “Thought we’d never get you out of Brooklyn. Why Oregon?” 

Steve met Bucky’s eyes, flashing on a memory of the two of them sitting on this same deck, with Bucky reading a book and Steve sketching as the sun set over the Pacific. “Why not Oregon?” he asked. 

Bucky gave Steve a hint of a smile. But he looked around at the place in disgust. “What the hell happened to it?”

All the work they’d poured into the house during their stolen five years never happened in this timeline. The garden was overrun with weeds. It needed a fresh coat of paint both inside and out, and several bad repair jobs had made matters worse. The house now came with mysterious stains and scratched floorboards and mold growing in the bathrooms. It had definitely seen better days. 

Steve sighed. “Well. After what happened happened, the bank took possession and it sat empty for a while. Later, it got bought, and the owner used it as a rental property. There was a series of short-term tenants. No one much took care of the place.”

“And the original owners?” asked Sam. “Did they come back? What happened to them?”

Even from across the table, Steve knew Bucky had become still and tense. “They’re fine,” he said, and Bucky let out a slow breath. “Tamara and Laurie. They came back to confusion, like everyone else. Someone living in their house. But, though they got ownership back, they decided they didn’t want to stay. Said it didn’t feel like theirs anymore. I gave them cash for it.”

He ended up giving them more than asking price, closer to what the value of the house would have been if none of this had happened, and told himself it wasn’t out of a sense of guilt. His lawyer handled most of the business, but due to new regulations for the transfer of property post-Snap, Steve was required to meet Tamara and Laurie face-to-face. To say it was odd meeting the real Tamara and Laurie was an understatement, after such a long time building up personalities for them in his mind based solely on their possessions, photographs, and their music habits. It turned out Laurie was the flirty one while Tamara was more reserved. But both were thrilled to be alive, and eager for the next stage of their lives. 

“Where are you going next?” he had asked them. 

They shared a moment of silent communication. Tamara was trying to manage an excitable 4-month-old mixed breed puppy, wiggling with puppy energy. It kept trying to lick her face. “Not sure,” said Laurie. “Montana maybe? We’re looking at places out there.”

No one said anything about Max and Pixie. During the meeting, he had been conscious of the fact that he still had Pixie’s felt mouse in his pocket. It weighed no more than an ounce or two but felt like it weighed as much as a boulder. Max and Pixie had never been found. Their remains had not been in the house, and none of the animal shelters had any records of a dog or a cat that matched their descriptions and markings. It was assumed they’d escaped the house somehow, and had either been found by someone or had perished. 

But Tamara had laughed at the puppy, and Laurie kept reaching over to scratch the puppy’s head. She turned to Steve. “We don’t know how or why you chose our property. But it’s easier to leave, knowing you’ll take care of it.”

“Do you hear that, Charlie?” asked Tamara, speaking to the puppy who succeeded in licking her face. “Captain America is going to live in our house.”

Steve smiled, a little humbled by their faith in him. They left Portland right after the meeting, and he walked them to their new SUV, loaded up with just the few things of theirs that hadn’t disappeared. The puppy occupied the back seat. Steve didn’t think they looked back once. 

Bucky’s disgust at the alterations to the garden and house deepened, and Steve wondered if he might get up right then and start whacking away at the weeds. For Steve, it was just nice having Bucky there, sitting on the deck like they used to. Though, it didn’t seem quite right without Max and Pixie. 

Steve almost spilled his secret right then. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Bucky what was waiting for him in the house. But before he could speak, more loud banging came from the spaceship. Both Sam and Bucky turned around to look at it.

“Mind explaining the big spaceship you got parked on your lawn?” asked Sam, with a curious quirk to his eyebrows. 

“What? You don’t have one of those?” he teased. 

The hydraulic ramp opened and out tumbled Thor. He wore jeans and a tank top, hair pulled back into a ponytail. He looked frustrated but waved cheerfully when he saw they had guests. 

“Hello! Friends,” he said, coming over to pat both Sam and Bucky hard enough on the back that he made Bucky cough and Sam nearly topple over. “Pleasant visit, I hope.”

“How’s it going?” asked Steve. 

“Splendid,” said Thor, grease marks all over his face. He gave an “OK” sign with his fingers. “Almost done.”

Amused, Steve didn’t think that was remotely true. “Let me know if you need help.” He’d already offered several times, but Thor kept refusing. 

“Thank you,” said Thor, sincerely, with a squeeze to Steve’s shoulder. They gripped hands briefly. “But help is on the way.”

Steve nodded, letting go of Thor’s hand. He wondered if “help is on the way” meant Rocket would be visiting or someone else. Thor mumbled to himself as he entered the house. 

Steve turned back to Sam and Bucky each giving him twin “What the hell?” looks. He grinned. “Mechanics aren’t his strong suit,” he said, by way of both explanation and apology. 

“I thought Thor was off finding himself, traveling around the universe?” asked Sam. 

“He comes and goes,” said Steve, with a shrug. 

“And he parks his spaceship here, huh? Okay,” said Sam, eyebrows quirking in amusement. But then he tilted his head. “Doesn’t he want to stay with his people?”

That was still a touchy subject with Thor. He both missed and loved the Asgardians in Norway, but it was painful for Thor to be around them. “He does. He goes back when he can. Earth is home now for Asgard.”

Sam nodded, a delicate look of understanding crossing his features. Bucky, who sipped on his lemonade, was lost in thought, but he tilted his head, listening to something far away. 

“You hear it, too?” asked Steve, turning in his seat to squint up at the sky. It was a distant, rhythmic flutter. All three of them got up from their seats, covering their eyes to shade from the sun.

“What is that?”

The rhythmic flutter grew louder, followed by a deep-chested neigh. A shadow crossed over the garden, and then, as if dropping out of the sky, a large winged horse landed, kicking up grass and dirt as she cantered around in a tight circle to a stop. 

Peggy the flying horse had matured since he’d last seen her in another lifetime, her coat turning smoky white. She tossed her head, prancing until she came to a stop, then immediately got down to the serious business of grazing from the weeds. The overgrown garden was like a giant salad for Peggy. 

“Hello, the house,” said Valkyrie, with Heimdall sitting astride behind her. She was dressed in her armor, though modifications had been made to denote her status as King. Her long hair was styled elaborately. “I’m here to deliver and to pick up,” she said. 

Steve walked over to the horse, trailing a hand down her mane and giving her neck a scratch. “Your majesty,” he said to Valkyrie. “Do all Kings fetch and carry their subjects?”

She smiled. “This King does.”

Heimdall dismounted, as tall and impressive as ever with his long dreadlocks tied back. He greeted Steve with a hearty hug. “Where is he?” 

“Inside,” he said, with a nod to the house. Heimdall bowed to Valkyrie, then gave Sam and Bucky a nod hello. 

Sam frowned, looking from Valkyrie, her magnificent winged horse wandering around the garden sniffing out the tastiest spots to graze, then turning to Heimdall as he headed for the sliding doors. He seemed about to say something when Frigga exited the house. 

She and Heimdall greeted each other, their centuries-long friendship evident in the way he took her hand and raised it to his lips. Frigga wore Valkyrie armor, a sword at her side, and the jewel blue cape flapping in the breeze. They parted as Heimdall went inside and she walked out to the garden. 

“Gentlemen,” she said by way of a greeting to Sam and Bucky, smiling at their puzzled expressions. She paused in front of Steve, cupping his cheek briefly before she continued to meet Valkyrie. Valkyrie leaned over to give Frigga an assist, and she swung lightly onto Peggy’s back. 

“Are you running an Asgardian hostel?” asked Sam. 

Steve grinned, thinking that was a rather apt description, but before he could answer the sliding doors opened again. Sam and Bucky turned to see what new surprise would greet them. 

“Hello, boys,” said Natasha with a smirk that turned into a genuine smile. 

Steve had helped her cut her hair the night before. It was a little longer than chin length now, and back to her normal red, with a single braid in the front to keep the hair out of her face. Natasha also wore the Valkyrie armor, though she didn’t carry a sword. Instead, she opted for her customary stun batons and spider bites, worn at her back. 

Natasha and Sam hugged, and he held her especially close as they both beamed at each other. Seeing them together always brought it home for Steve: these two were not meant to ever see each other again, yet here they were. 

She turned to Bucky and looked him up and down from head to toe. With the hint of a smile, she raised an eyebrow. “Barnes,” she said, then said something in Russian.

Bucky flushed red, which just made Natasha look pleased with herself. He answered her in Russian. Flirt, thought Steve, not knowing which one of the two the term applied to more. 

She turned to Steve, then huffed a sigh and put her hands on her hips. “I can’t get used to you looking like that,” she said. 

“I know, I know,” he said. 

“And what about the…” she made a face, jerking her head toward the house. “You know. Each time I go in there I get these incredibly sad looks.”

“I’m working on that,” he said. Bucky and Sam were clearly trying to figure out what they were talking about. Steve’s heart thumped harder, both excited and nervous. “Bucky,” he said. “You have a couple of friends waiting for you inside.”

Bucky furrowed his brow. “Friends?” he asked, his entire expression one big question mark. He looked from Steve to the house. A dog barked, unable to contain itself any longer. Understanding dawned, and Bucky’s entire face froze in shock that quickly changed to an eclipsing joy. He was trying to hold it together. “But…how?” he asked, his voice strained. “They’re not… they can’t be?”

“They’re from this timeline,” Steve said, gently. 

Bucky’s eyes glistened. He frowned extra hard at Steve as he realized what that meant. “You can do that? I thought…I thought that wasn’t possible.”

“With Tony’s tech I can,” he said. Traveling within one timeline without creating further branch realities was a delicate process and couldn’t be done arbitrarily, but he’d managed to do it twice now. He didn’t plan to make a habit of it. “Well. Are you going to go in and see them or not?” 

Max barked again, adding a plaintive little whine. He didn’t like being asked to stay quiet, locked in the bedroom. Bucky wiped at his eyes and nose. “They won’t know me.”

Steve grasped Bucky’s right arm, keeping his hand there until Bucky looked at him. “Of course they will. Go on, get in there. They’re in the master bedroom, waiting for you.”

Bucky worked his jaw, swallowing, but then found his courage. Taking a deep breath, he went inside. From their place on the deck, Steve didn’t have a direct line of sight to the master bedroom but heard barking again and then Bucky’s soft laughter. “Hey, buddy,” Bucky said. “Hey, Pix.”

More laughter, barking, and the jingle jangle of Max and Pixie’s collars as they came out of the hallway. Max kept trying to leap onto Bucky and they tumbled to the floor. Pixie meowed, trotting away from the flailing boys to a safe distance.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” said Sam. He wore a confused smile as Bucky rolled onto his back, letting Max sniff him all over and lick his face. Pixie sat on her haunches, meowing, asking for attention. Bucky managed to hold his hand out for Pixie to sniff even with Max sitting on him. She took a step forward to let him scratch her head. 

“Bucky can explain,” said Steve. He and Natasha exchanged looks, and she gave him a nod. Gathering his own courage, he tugged on Sam’s jacket to get his attention. “Sam, I have to show you something. Don’t get mad.”

“Don’t get mad?” asked Sam, turning toward Steve, but his eyes went wide. Steve had dropped the illusion of age and stood before Sam naturally. What did Steve look like to Sam now? He didn’t look like the man who’d disappeared from the platform anymore. “Steve?” asked Sam, in a whispered voice.

“Yeah,” said Steve, with a tentative smile. 

Sam’s expression transformed from shock to confusion, and then—because this was Sam—eventually it turned into quiet relief and a gentle understanding. “Goddamn you,” he said, with feeling, but he was smiling in wonder. “Is this how you look? Why did you pretend? And…how?”

“It’s a trick I learned. I did it for a couple reasons. Coming back home, well—I lived through almost seventy years with… with Peggy. I grew old with her. That’s part of it. The other part is….” He shrugged, placing a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I thought it would be easier. For the world to let me go. I’ve lived my life.” He remembered Frigga’s words. He and Natasha, Frigga and Heimdall—they had each lived their life. “That shield belongs to you now.” 

Sam frowned as he listened, searching Steve closely before he turned to Natasha. She nodded at Sam, sharing a back and forth understanding. Sam closed his eyes briefly, bowing his head in acceptance. 

Bucky called from the living room floor. “Sam. Come on, Sam. Come say hi.” 

Sam turned to look at Bucky grappling with an enthusiastic Max. Though he still seemed uncertain, that familiar Sam Wilson grin appeared. “All right, Cap,” he said to Steve. “You find what makes you happy?”

Damn it, Steve thought, as the rush of emotion made his eyes sting. He pulled Sam in for a hug. “Pretty damn close to it,” he said, and whispered, “Thank you,” for only Sam to hear. 

He pushed Sam inside, letting him go and remembering to take deep breaths. Natasha slipped her hand in his as they watched Sam crouch to make friends with Max and Pixie. Pixie immediately let Sam carry her, purring in his arms. 

“And you were nervous,” said Natasha. She squeezed his hand.

“Forgive an old man his nerves.” 

Valkyrie called to Natasha, and they both looked over to the garden. Peggy was making short work of the weeds. He should have her come back again to finish the job. She was better than a lawnmower. But it was obvious Valkyrie was ready to leave.

“I better go,” Natasha said, facing Steve.

He nodded, sad to see her go but it did him good to know she was starting a new adventure. “See you later?” he asked, hooking a finger into her armor to keep her with him one second longer.

She gave him her lopsided, teasing smile. “Okay.”

They grinned. But this would be their first time parting since leaving the Lookout’s Roost together. She nodded, and for once she didn’t hide how she felt, her eyes glistening. They came together, foreheads touching and breathing in sync, conveying what they felt for each other before meeting in a simple kiss—a gentle press of lips to his, lingering for a second or two. He lifted her in his arms, off her feet, swinging her around before carrying her through the garden and tossing her up onto Peggy’s back. She settled comfortably behind Frigga, her arms around Frigga’s waist, resting her head down on her shoulder.

Thor came out of the house to say goodbye, holding something in his hand. The three Valkyries waved as he and Thor stepped back to give Peggy space. She shook out her wings, snorting as she stomped, charging forward into a tight canter circle before lifting into the air. 

Steve shaded his eyes, staring into the sky. Peggy and the three Valkyries grew smaller and smaller as they disappeared into a speck against the clouds. 

“They will return soon,” said Thor. 

“I know,” answered Steve. He sighed, then turned to Thor, curious about what he had brought out to show him. 

Thor raised his palm for Steve to see, wearing his time travel device and waggling his eyebrows. “It’s time for help to arrive.”

Alarm rose quickly up through Steve’s chest. He felt his eyes go wide. “Thor. You didn’t!”

“I did,” he said. Before Steve could make a second protest, Thor accessed the device and dropped a message into the quantum realm. 

A figure appeared less than a second later a few feet away, suited for quantum travel. The suit disappeared, revealing Tony Stark. He blinked, looked around at his surroundings in complacent curiosity, until he spotted Thor and Steve. “Ah, there you are,” he said. 

“Tony!’ cried Thor, very pleased with himself. 

“Well, you called,” said Tony. “I’m here. Pepper’s in the shower and Bruce fell asleep reading Morgan a bedtime story. I’ve got a second. Literally.” He held out his two hands. One was heavily scarred. “What do you need? Where’s the patient?”

Steve was staring. Tony had more gray hair than before. The delicate webbing of scars tracked up the side of his neck. But this was the Tony he had known since infancy. Steve would know him anywhere. “Hi, Tony,” he said.

The smile tugged on Tony’s lips. His eyes glistened, and he tilted his head to observe Steve closely. “Hey, Cap. Good to see you.”

Steve opened his arms, and Tony went into them, tucking his head into the space at Steve’s neck like he used to as a little boy. Thor grabbed them both, grinning his big grin, arms around their shoulders. 

Thor said, “This way,” as they let go, leading Tony over to the ship. With a glance at Steve, Tony followed him, leaving Steve momentarily alone in the garden.

Max’s barking drifted over from the house. Steve could hear snatches of conversation between Sam and Bucky. The day held just the right mixture of bright warm sun and fresh cool wind coming in off the sea. A moment later, Bucky and Sam came out with Max leaping and barking at their feet, excited because they carried his favorite ball. Pixie trotted after them. 

He could hear the banging resume inside the ship and it made him smile, wondering how disastrous it would be if Tony stayed for dinner along with Sam and Bucky. Mjolnir rested by the back door, still and silent. Steve breathed in the sea air, letting it fill his lungs before he went to play catch with his best friends.

**Author's Note:**

> If this series has an endgame, I'd say it is Steve & Natasha's friendship that is the emotional core. Under certain light, it can be read as Steve/Natasha, hence the tag. :D Though an argument can be made this is really Steve/Team Cap, and it's his promise to Bucky that brings him home. As with the earlier parts, this story is intended to be gen.
> 
> This part has a few mentions of background pairings, namely alternate Steve/Bucky, and implied Tony/Bruce/Pepper, and maybe a wee smidgen of implied Frigga/Heimdall.
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr](http://hafital.tumblr.com/), where I mostly reblog things that make me laugh.
> 
> Please [reblog](https://hafital.tumblr.com/post/616836846528430080/the-promise-chapter-1-hafital-marvel) if you're so inclined. Thank you for reading!


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